Interesting. Oil is an inexhaustible resource in the sense that it will destroy the world in the process of its exhaustion, and so will never be able to be fully exhausted. Therefore scarcity is not relevant. If oil ever does become scarce, that will be the least of our problems.

First, this perfectly mirrors my own feelings on PAX. It is really sort of terrible, except for the Indie Megabooth and Tabletop areas. Even when you are into the AAA developer titles, the presentation leaves so much to be desired that one wonders what the point is.

Going to the indie areas though, talking with developers or associates of theirs who are legitimately excited about the things they are creating is great! Plus, the games themselves are really fun and lend themselves better to the short play times and quick learning curve of playing demos anyway. They are, in almost every way, a better fit for the convention experience.

Second, will second zephsright in saying that "And tucked away on the sixth floor..." is a bit of a misnomer. Being on the 6th floor *is* a little tucked away, but the area was by far the most prominent area on that floor. It wasn't in the back or anything, you couldn't avoid passing it when getting off the 6th floor escalator. If you were going up to that floor, which despite not being the main floor still had a lot of great stuff for people of all different interests, then the diversity lounge was unavoidable. Plus, had it been on the main floor it would have been very difficult to carry on a conversation there which was sort of the point right?

"There's a bike lane on Dexter Avenue a block away, which runs parallel!" is the kind of argument made by someone who has no concept of the fundamental difference between cars and bicycles.

I ride down Westlake all the time and Dexter sometimes. Taking Dexter anywhere typically involves a significant elevation gain that can be rather taxing on a bike, especially if you are novice cyclist, older, younger, carrying a lot of stuff, would prefer to not be quite so sweaty upon reaching your destination or would prefer to go faster rather than slower.

The Dexter bike lane is useful for getting to things on Dexter street, and not much else, whereas Westlake is a key route from Downtown, Lower Queen Anne and SLU to Fremont, SPU and the Burke Gilman Trail.

I'm unsure of the best way to articulate this difference to the Westlake Cycle Track opponents. Maybe showing the significant difference in actual travel times along the two routes, despite being parallel and only a block apart.